137 - Arthur I. Miller [121]
Thus Pauli worked out that parity could be restored in a new and profound way by taking into account a fuller symmetry—CPT, which reveals the full symmetry of phenomena.
Over the years scientists have discovered some of the stunning implications of Pauli’s CPT symmetry. One is the following. In experiments on certain elementary particles it seemed that the combined symmetry of CP (matter/antimatter and parity) was violated. As one was violated and the other not, the two together—the product C × P—is violated. (As in mathematics where +1 × –1 = –1.) This is therefore a loss of symmetry. For CPT to remain valid, time reversal (T) would have to be invalid too, which would make the combined symmetry of the three—CPT—valid. (As in –1 × –1 = +1.)
In the late 1990s, scientists actually produced direct proof of the violation of time-reversal invariance on the subatomic level, that is, when time was made to run backward the laws of physics concerning this specie of weak interaction did not remain the same. From this they were able to show that the transformation of matter into antimatter is not symmetrical in time. The cosmic implications of this are enormous. It helps explain a question that intrigues physicists: why the universe is made up of matter rather than antimatter, even though equal amounts of both were created in the big bang.
After the fall of parity, as Pauli commented with quiet pride to Jung, “The ‘CPT theorem’ was on everybody’s lips.” “To many physicists CPT was a fixed point around which all else turned,” T. D. Lee recalled of that turbulent era. It also seemed to be a way to bring together Pauli’s interests in physics and psychology. He had “no doubt that the placing side by side of the points of view of a physicist and a psychologist will also prove a form of reflection.” The startling “mirror” symmetry of CPT related elementary particles in a new and profound way. So why should the apparently dissimilar views of a physicist and a psychologist not mirror each other as well?
Pauli and T. D. Lee (whose theoretical work had brought about the downfall of parity) quickly developed a rapport. Pauli was intrigued by Lee’s research on how elementary particles transform into one another. On one occasion Pauli visited Lee at the Brookhaven National Laboratory on Long Island. They planned to go out for dinner that evening with their wives. There was valuable scientific equipment on site and a guard was posted at the gate. As he was leaving in his car, Lee handed the guard his identification card. An uncomfortably long time went by. Lee inquired whether there was a problem. The guard apologized. He had somehow misplaced the card, he said. In all his years on duty it was the first time it had ever happened. Lee laughed. It was a first for him, too. The guard finally located the card; it had fallen through his fingers under a table. Pauli exclaimed gleefully from the back seat, “It’s the Pauli effect!”
From mirror symmetry and archetypes to…UFOs
The violation of parity—that it was, in fact, possible to distinguish between left and right in atomic physics—struck a chord in Jung’s ongoing fascination with unidentified flying objects (UFOs), an interest which, as Jung admitted, “might strike some people as crazy.” At the time—the 1950s—many people were fascinated by UFOs and a number of highly successful books had been written. During their long dinners at Jung’s huge house on the lake, Pauli and Jung often discussed the subject. Jung begged Pauli to make inquiries about flying saucers among his scientific colleagues. Pauli’s theory was that they were either hallucinations or secret experimental aircraft invented by the Americans. He had nothing but scathing